Gwen Cooper, everyone's favourite.
Her eyes fell on the conclusion of the 456 saga and her smile spread. Well, well, well, the great Captain Jack Harkness had sacrificed his own grandchild to save the world. She bet that hurt.
His pride as much as his heart. Being a child-killer wouldn't sit well with his reputation or his own inflated opinion of himself. Bitterness rose like bile in her chest. She'd shot him. She'd killed him. It was just sod's law that Jack couldn't die.
He probably saw it as some kind of noble burden he had to bear instead of a gift.
'Do you want kids one day, Suzie?' Jack leans back
in his chair and studies her, thoughtfully. He's very
handsome, she'll give him that. Her skin tingles
when he looks at her. She'll never sleep with him
though. She knows that, on some level. Captain
Jack Harkness likes Suzie, but he'll never love her.
She's not special enough.
Doesn't really fit with our line of work,' she
smiles, deflecting him. 'Long hours chasing aliens
followed by,' she lifted her beer, a couple of hours
winding down. Not really designed for being home
in time for bath and bedtime stories.'
You'd make a great mum,'he says. He's sipping
water. She wonders if he'd find her more attractive
if he had a beer or two. She'd like to sleep with
him. She's thought about it. It would be different to
being in bed with Owen, that much was certain.
I don't come from good parenting stock.' The
sentence is out before she realises that it's more
than a thought, and her shoulders tense. Her life
is her private business. One day she'll make sure
she gets even with her dad, but for now there is no
need to share. She doesn't need anyone's sympathy.
'Anyway,' she says, 'Torchwood is my family now.'
She smiles, but he remains thoughtful.
You're good at this job, you know,' he says.
'Better than most I've seen, and trust me, I've seen
a few. But,' he leans forward, resting his arms on
his knees, 'you need to have more than just the job.
You need a life. Something to keep you grounded.'
'Why?' she asks. 'So when I die some poor sod
will be left wondering what's happened to me as all
my possessions get carted off and stored in boxes in
one of those lock-ups? Like we did for Ben Brown V
She shakes her head. 'It's not for me. Anyway,
you're not so different. What do you have outside
of the job? You don't have a family. You spend all
night in the Hub, or standing on top of it staring at
the stars and thinking about God knows what.'
His face darkens slightly and she wonders if
she's touched a nerve. She knows so little - they
all know so little - about the handsome American
that they follow into danger at the drop of a hat.
Torchwood. She loves it. She really does. It's given
her life purpose. Until that incident with the alien
computer virus that downloaded into her work
mainframe, she'd simply drifted. She could have
drifted into the Rift itself for all she cared. She'd
felt like nothing. She'd believed she was nothing.
Technical genius she might have been - able to get
into any system presented to her, but she was as
dead as the machines she managed.
'Torchwood saved me,' she says softly. She
doesn't look at him as she speaks, but down at her
beer bottle where her fingers are pulling the label
free. 'It brought me back to life. This is the best job
I've ever had.'
She remembers the sheer thrill of that first alien
encounter. Feeling that something was wrong in
the system even though no one would believe her,
seeing Jack and sweet Ben Brown, now in cold
storage, investigate it and knowing, just knowing,
that there was something special about them.
That they were people she belonged with. People
that didn't fit inside the world just like she didn't.
She was the one who realised when the virus
downloaded into her boss. It was she that had
captured it. If it wasn't for her, her old boss would
have been dead, and not pleasantly too. At least
he couldn't remember
Her eyes fell on the conclusion of the 456 saga and her smile spread. Well, well, well, the great Captain Jack Harkness had sacrificed his own grandchild to save the world. She bet that hurt.
His pride as much as his heart. Being a child-killer wouldn't sit well with his reputation or his own inflated opinion of himself. Bitterness rose like bile in her chest. She'd shot him. She'd killed him. It was just sod's law that Jack couldn't die.
He probably saw it as some kind of noble burden he had to bear instead of a gift.
'Do you want kids one day, Suzie?' Jack leans back
in his chair and studies her, thoughtfully. He's very
handsome, she'll give him that. Her skin tingles
when he looks at her. She'll never sleep with him
though. She knows that, on some level. Captain
Jack Harkness likes Suzie, but he'll never love her.
She's not special enough.
Doesn't really fit with our line of work,' she
smiles, deflecting him. 'Long hours chasing aliens
followed by,' she lifted her beer, a couple of hours
winding down. Not really designed for being home
in time for bath and bedtime stories.'
You'd make a great mum,'he says. He's sipping
water. She wonders if he'd find her more attractive
if he had a beer or two. She'd like to sleep with
him. She's thought about it. It would be different to
being in bed with Owen, that much was certain.
I don't come from good parenting stock.' The
sentence is out before she realises that it's more
than a thought, and her shoulders tense. Her life
is her private business. One day she'll make sure
she gets even with her dad, but for now there is no
need to share. She doesn't need anyone's sympathy.
'Anyway,' she says, 'Torchwood is my family now.'
She smiles, but he remains thoughtful.
You're good at this job, you know,' he says.
'Better than most I've seen, and trust me, I've seen
a few. But,' he leans forward, resting his arms on
his knees, 'you need to have more than just the job.
You need a life. Something to keep you grounded.'
'Why?' she asks. 'So when I die some poor sod
will be left wondering what's happened to me as all
my possessions get carted off and stored in boxes in
one of those lock-ups? Like we did for Ben Brown V
She shakes her head. 'It's not for me. Anyway,
you're not so different. What do you have outside
of the job? You don't have a family. You spend all
night in the Hub, or standing on top of it staring at
the stars and thinking about God knows what.'
His face darkens slightly and she wonders if
she's touched a nerve. She knows so little - they
all know so little - about the handsome American
that they follow into danger at the drop of a hat.
Torchwood. She loves it. She really does. It's given
her life purpose. Until that incident with the alien
computer virus that downloaded into her work
mainframe, she'd simply drifted. She could have
drifted into the Rift itself for all she cared. She'd
felt like nothing. She'd believed she was nothing.
Technical genius she might have been - able to get
into any system presented to her, but she was as
dead as the machines she managed.
'Torchwood saved me,' she says softly. She
doesn't look at him as she speaks, but down at her
beer bottle where her fingers are pulling the label
free. 'It brought me back to life. This is the best job
I've ever had.'
She remembers the sheer thrill of that first alien
encounter. Feeling that something was wrong in
the system even though no one would believe her,
seeing Jack and sweet Ben Brown, now in cold
storage, investigate it and knowing, just knowing,
that there was something special about them.
That they were people she belonged with. People
that didn't fit inside the world just like she didn't.
She was the one who realised when the virus
downloaded into her boss. It was she that had
captured it. If it wasn't for her, her old boss would
have been dead, and not pleasantly too. At least
he couldn't remember
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